1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus, a method for controlling the same, and a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
A printing apparatus used in a POD (Print On Demand) environment as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-176581 often adjusts the tint of an image by outputting an arbitrary number of printed materials in order to stabilize the tint of the image formed on the printed material output by print processing. In this case, the last output one of the plurality of printed materials output for adjustment of the tint of the image may be used in the next step such as post-processing. That is, since the tint of the last output printed material should have been adjusted and have already stabilized, it is possible to effectively use the resources by utilizing the printed material in the next step.
In a printing apparatus, when outputting a plurality of printed materials to adjust the tint of the printed material as described above, all the printed materials are generally output and stacked on a specific discharge destination such as a discharge tray. Upon completion of output of the plurality of printed materials, the user recognizes, for example, the top one of the plurality of printed materials stacked on the discharge destination as the last output printed material, and uses it for post-processing or the like.
In the above-described printing apparatus, however, if a plurality of printed materials are continuously output, the user may erroneously recognize, as a printed material with a stable tint, a printed material which actually has an unstable tint. For example, assume that printing is halted due to some reason, and not all the plurality of printed materials which should be output to adjust the tint of the printed material have been output onto the discharge tray yet. In this case, even though the top one of the plurality of printed material already stacked on the discharge tray is not a printed material with a stable tint, the user may erroneously use the printed material for post-processing. That is, the user may erroneously use, for post-processing, a printed material with an unstable tint.
To avoid such situation, the user needs to check whether the top one of the printed materials stacked on the discharge tray is a printed material with a stable tint, by counting the number of printed materials output onto the discharge tray.